June 29, 2010

This is our saying this summer. The days are just packed. The kids and I say it to each other multiple times a day.

As you may notice from my MIA status over the past week, we have been occupied with summer goodness. Trips to the library, picnics, going for ice cream, getting ready for our basement carpet installation Wednesday (yea!!!! finally!!!), chillin' around the house, Lego's, reading, running under the sprinkler, play dates, sports ceremonies and on and on......

I have been working on a bunch of projects but I can't share with you yet. A few months ago a representative from STYROFOAM Brand Foam contacted me after coming across my blog. She wanted to know if I'd be interested in designing projects for them. Uh, YEAH!!!!! So I have been getting all that together to ship to the photographer. Once the projects are either picked up and published or put on the STYROFOAM web site I'll be able to show you what I made. :-) I'm also still getting my on-line class things planned. More info on that coming soon.

A few recent photos from our household.... One of our chillin' moments - Sarah and Ben playing with their Great Grammy's dog collection...

When I was their age I would stay at my Grammy's house while my parents were at work. I remember asking her if she would bring down her dog collection. She lived in a row home and kept the box with the collection up on the third floor, in storage. She'd get it and bring it down to the dining room table (this same one that my kids are at here) and I'd get them out and play with them (very carefully!). Theyare porcelain or china and most are made back in the late 1940's to early 1950's. She told me my Poppop would get them for her because she loved dogs. When she sold her house to move in with my uncle the dogs, the dining room furniture and a bunch of other memorabilia came my way. So now my kids ask me to get out the doggies!

This silly hot-dog dog was always one of my favorites!

Some pictures from Ben's baseball trophy ceremony...... Ben shaking hands as he gets his trophy...

And Ben and 'Coach Todd' posing for the 'official' trophy portrait...

Now on to some other summer goodness. A new friend of mine, Emmy Blakely, is holding a raffle to raise money for an adoption. You can read about her and her story here.

She is super sweet and I was so glad to be able to help her by donating some items from P.S. it's in the details. She has a few prizes available and if you check out her blog you can find out about each raffle and how to make a donation by purchasing raffle tickets. It's a good thing and I hope you'll be able to participate.

June 22, 2010

Sarah used to be little, like my niece, Aubrie. And I would swear it was just last week. But even Aubrie is getting big....

And my little man, who seemed to just have chubby baby cheeks, is stretching and changing...

It's amazing how we transition from one gereration to the next. We were the kids. All of a sudden we have the kids. And I am not at the point yet where my kids have kids, but oh, how fast it will come. Just a reminder to enjoy those chubby baby cheeks because they don't last long!!! :-)

June 16, 2010

I am working on a class for this summer - my first on-line class! It's called Summer Vacation Essay....

I am still figuring out all the details but I can tell you sign-ups will begin around the beginning of July. The class will run somewhere from mid-July through mid-August. There will be a private blog and you will be given all sorts of fun prompts and ideas and get to put those into a downloadable journal, of sorts, designed by me! Stay tuned!!!!!! :-)

June 14, 2010

Last Friday the kids got off the bus at noon and summer vacation began...

We had a baseball game Saturday and a softball game Sunday. Both sports are finally done for the spring season. Staying up late and sleeping in has begun. The kids were in pajamas until after lunch. Tonight we played badminton after supper and then caught lightning bugs after the sun set. We are off to a good start.

June 02, 2010

.....I spent a bit of time in my neglected gardens. I was pulling weeds in the bricks of the herb garden when I noticed that they weren't all weeds. My thyme went crazy and I have a gazillion baby thyme plants sprouting up in all the brick pathways....

I was amazed at the size of my sage plant. I haven't been out to look at anything this year and my sage is now the queen of her four foot square. I plant five herbs per square but Miss Sage fills the whole plot. And the blooms are amaaaaaaazing. It was loaded with bizzy bumble bees...

I have been wanting to get more pictures of myself in the mix, so I sat in front of the sage and snapped away.....

....then I went back to work pulling weeds and snipping some flowers to bring inside...

I found a big moth and took it over to show the kids, who were practicing pitching and throwing with Todd. When I brought it back it did not want to get off my hand and arm.... tickly!!!!

I snapped a few more pictures of some flowers... and little, contemplative froggies...

... and then a cute, freckled face boy showed up in my view finder so I had to take a few more pictures...

(Oh, Ben.... how I love you and your goofiness)

It feels good to be back, blogging again. Just some simple, everyday moments captured here in this post. But that's what life's about, right? :-)

I have a lot of family pictures to share... we had some gatherings during my blog break and I have to catch everyone up on all the goings-on and the latest smiling faces. Coming soon! :-)